Monograph
by Lady Aurora Nocturne
Summary: Updated! Vaan shows Penelo a cool thing he bought in the Bazaar. She is less than impressed. Part 2 - Penelo chews out Gatsly.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XII and its characters belong to Square-Enix. I'm just having a little fun with them and am not making any money.

AN: Takes place after the Thextera hunt but before Vaan sneaks into the palace.

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**Monograph**

"Hey, Penelo, check out what I got in the Bazaar." Vaan said as he walked into Migelo's Sundries. He really needed to get moving if he was going to sneak into the palace during the fete, but he couldn't resist showing his friend what Gatsly put in the Bazaar for him as part of his reward for bringing down the Thextera mark.

"Oooh, it looks like a magic grimoire." Penelo said as she took the musty old tome from his hands. The symbol on the cover glowed an eerie blue, perhaps reacting to the girl's greater magic skills. "What is it, exactly?"

"It's a Hunter's Monograph." Vaan explained. "It'll help me get better loot from beasts and avions." He'd already read a few entries in it. It listed beasts and avions from all over Ivalice alphabetically and listed tips for salvaging marketable parts of each creature.

"And you found it in the Bazaar?" Penelo clarified.

"Yeah. Gastly put it in there for me."

"How much did you pay for it?" she asked.

Vaan sighed. He should've known she would ask about that. He braced himself for the meltdown that was sure to follow. "18,000 gil." He admitted.

She slapped him on the arm. "18,000 GIL?! Gods, Vaan, how stupid are you? How did you even get that much gil? We could feed every orphan in Rabanastre for that!" Penelo screeched. Several of Migelo's patrons looked alarmed at the outburst.

"I sold off the loot and extra equipment I found out in the desert today." He should have started mark hunting years ago. He'd never dreamed it could be so lucrative. "And I talked to Tomaj about it before buying it. He said it was a great deal. These things are crazy rare. They don't come on the market much." Vaan defended.

"Don't you bring Tomaj into this! That boy has gil to burn! He owns the Sandsea for crying out loud! You don't have that kind of money to throw around!" Penelo continued, her face growing red from her rage.

"It'll pay for itself. You'll see." Vaan replied as calmly as possible. Talking to Penelo in a soft, soothing voice usually calmed her down.

"You said this Gatsly put it in the Bazaar for you? That's the guy who petitioned the Thextera hunt, right?" Penelo queried.

"Ya huh."

"He said that it was part of your reward?" She pressed, eyes narrowing.

"Yeah."

"Well, if it was supposed to be a reward, why didn't he just give it to you, doofus? As it stands, you probably just paid Gatsly's rent for the next six months."

Migelo chose that moment to come to Vaan's rescue. "Penelo, my girl, we have quite the line at the register now, and here ye stand just a flapping your jaw. Run along now. And Vaan, ye need to leave if ye aren't going to buy anything and don't want to work for me anymore today." The bangaa seemed vaguely disappointed that Vaan wasn't as inclined to help out in the shop like Penelo did.

Penelo shoved the book back at Vaan with a derisive huff before rushing off to obey. Vaan sighed as he walked out of the shop. She had a point, and he knew it. Gatsly seemed like a nice enough guy. Vaan hadn't suspected him of doing anything sneaky until Penelo pointed it out. Of course, after living on the streets for so long, Vaan knew he should suspect everyone of being up to something. 20,000 gil was a ton of money for someone like him. He couldn't afford to go blowing through it in under a day.

Vaan trotted down the stairway to Lowtown feeling a grim determination. He was going to go get some amazing treasure from the palace. That would more than make up for his spending today. Then he could keep his promise and take Penelo and their orphan friends out for a good dinner. He didn't quite regret buying the monograph. In fact, he planned on keeping an eye out for more like it in the bazaar in the future. Tomaj made it sound like these things were awesome and would eventually pay for themselves, despite the high cost up front.

Maybe Gatsly hadn't put one over on him. Maybe it would just be too insane to let one of these things go for free. He'd be sure to compare its price to any others he saw for sale in the future. Maybe Vaan just wanted to believe the best about humanity today, or maybe he just didn't want to admit to himself that he might have been ripped off. Heavens help Gatsly if he felt a need to purchase anything from Migelo's today. Penelo would undoubtedly give him a tongue-lashing. Whatever Gatsly was up to earlier, Vaan had a palace to pillage. He hoped getting into the treasury was as straight-forward as Old Dalan made it sound.

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How did you like it? Please leave a review on your way out!


	2. Part 2

This was originally going to be a one-shot, but I decided to write a follow-up where Penelo confronts Gatsly. This part is dedicated to frankannestein.

I updated the first part to correct a couple of errors I found.

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**Monograph Part 2**

Penelo was still fuming when she got off work. She was done in the late afternoon, since Migelo decided to have his burlier assistants help him transport the food to the fete. She wasn't needed to help serve at the party either, as the palace servants could handle that. On any other day she would have been disappointed at being left out of such an exciting event. Today it suited her just fine, because Penelo was a girl on a mission.

That Gatsly character that ripped Vaan off earlier that was going to pay. Granted, it was at least half Vaan's fault. She doubted Gatsly held a sword to her friend's throat to force him to buy the monograph. Vaan lacked the sense the gods granted a chocobo , especially when it came to gil. Even knowing his capacity to blow through his gil, she was shocked that he'd spent nearly 20,000 in one fell swoop. The fact that he had that much to begin with was more surprising in some ways than the fact that he spent it all in one place.

As she stalked down the stairs to the bazaar, Penelo went through the rant she'd planned in her head. When she found that creep, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. He should be ashamed of himself for taking advantage of a gullible Lowtown boy like Vaan. But before she could chew Gatsly out, she had to find him.

Penelo had no idea where Gatsly's booth might be in the Bazaar. She didn't even know what he looked like or what kind of goods he sold. Perhaps someone could point her in the right direction. She saw Ktjn, the viera who'd recently taken to hanging around the Bazaar sitting by the the stairs in her usual alcove. Since she was here all the time, perhaps she'd know where to find Gatsly.

"Hi Ktjn." Penelo began.

"Hello again. I fear that I am no closer to finding my path than when we last spoke." The viera replied.

"That's okay; I'm sure you'll figure things out soon." Penelo said with a smile. She talked to the viera occasionally in an effort to help her figure out what to do with her new life outside the Wood. "Say, Ktjn, do you happen to know where I could find a merchant named Gatsly?"

Ktjn considered the question for a moment. "I believe you are referring to the peddler of unusual herbs and spices from Archadia, yes? His booth is just past the Moogling to the right along the wall."

Archadian herbs? What was Gatsly thinking? No one in Rabanastre wanted Archadian anything right now. He'd be out of business in no time.

Penelo thanked Ktjn and hurried on her way. She still didn't know what Gatsly looked like, but someone would probably point her in the right direction. She approached a cluster of merchants in the general area Ktjn indicated and asked "Do any of you know where I might find Gatsly?"

A tall man in dull tan clothing responded, "I'm Gatsly, how can I help you, miss?"

The mild-mannered girl who worked at Migelo's Sundries vanished at that instant and was replaced by an angry dragon in human form. "You have some explaining to do! What the hell were you thinking, duping the poor Lowtown boy who just saved your sorry hide into buying a stupid book that cost more than a year's rent?" She shrieked. "I bet you think you're real clever, getting the hunter who saved your business to spend far more than the bounty you gave him at your shop!"

Gatsly held his hands out in front of him as though trying to ward off a physical attack. "Miss, I didn't dupe anyone. That Monograph is a rare find. Ask any Mark hunter around, they're always trying to find those things. I was doing the boy a favor by letting him get his hands on one so early in his career!" He defended.

"You were doing him a favor by charging him 18,000 gil for an old book?" Penelo screamed, her face growing red. The nerve of this guy…

"Like I said, ask some other hunters what they think. That was a perfectly reasonable price!" Gatsly persisted; embarrassed at the amount of attention their altercation was drawing.

"Say whatever you like, we both know that you saw a sucker and decided to take him for all he was worth! If that thing was so valuable, why didn't you hold onto it and sell it to someone who could pay more. If these things are so in demand, it should be easy enough to find a wealthy buyer instead of fleecing a gullible boy!" She'd like to see him counter that logic. She spent all afternoon pondering Gatsly's motives and felt ready for any response he could make against her accusations.

"I was trying to help the boy out, like I said!" he snapped. "Seems like no good deed goes unpunished in this town." He let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Cut the martyr crap. You made a tidy profit, I'm sure. And how is that stupid thing supposed to help my friend with hunting? It's a smelly old book!" The other merchants were looking alarmed by now, and shoppers were giving them a wide berth. Penelo would usually be embarrassed at causing such a scene, but she was so incensed at the moment that she didn't care.

"It has information that will help him collect high quality loot from every beast and avion in Ivalice. It also has enchantments on it to increase the odds of finding said loot. He'll get better stuff just by carrying it with him too. It'll pay for itself, I swear!"

"You keep telling yourself that. I don't know how you're going to sleep at night! That stupid book isn't going to pay his bills like that gil would have! And carrying around a tome of that size is just going to slow Vaan down on hunts!" she screeched.

"Look, sweetheart, I didn't make your friend buy the book, I just gave him the opportunity. It was his gil, not yours. If he's unhappy with his purchase, he should be able to resell it easily, and even make a profit."

Sweetheart? Who was he calling sweetheart? Penelo had never felt so insulted. It was really tough being a petite girl sometimes. No one took her seriously, even when she was in a towering rage. She'd teach him.

"Quit talking down to me, you big jerk! And technically part of that bounty was mine, since I accompanied him on the hunt!" It wasn't about the money, not really, it was the principle of the matter that had her outraged.

"You went on the hunt?" Gatsly asked, incredulous. She really didn't look tough enough for Mark hunting.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped back. She had half a mind to slap the guy.

At that moment, an Imperial soldier wandered up. "This where I can find Archadian white pepper?" Gatsly blanched, unsure of how to handle the situation with Penelo with the soldier there. What was with people interrupting her tirades today?

"Give me one moment and I'll be right with you, sir." Gatsly leaned closer to Penelo and whisphered "Listen, sweetheart, I'll give you the same amount of gil I gave your friend earlier right now if you'll clear off and let me serve this customer."

Penelo had no desire to get arrested for disturbing the peace today, so she decided to forego the opportunity to continue screaming at Gatsly and embarrass him in front of a customer. She also wasn't one to pass up easy gil, and making him give some of the money back was probably the closest she'd get to an apology. She accepted the small pouch he passed her as graciously as possible under the circumstances. Gatsly seemed pleased to be rid of her and turned to serve the Archadian with a smile on his face.

She observed the transaction with the soldier before departing. Apparently he was running an errand for the barracks chef, who wanted the white pepper to provide the soldiers a taste of home, and was willing to pay handsomely for it. She was astonished to see him hand over 2,000 gil for a little pouch of the stuff. Maybe Gatsly wasn't insane after all. It turned out that there were people in Rabanastre who were dying for Archadian seasonings. Perhaps she'd suggest stocking this kind of thing to Migelo.

Overall, getting most of Vaan's bounty back was a decent result for her trouble. It was 500 gil,which would cover the amount he owed her in rent for the past few months. As for the monograph, Penelo would do her best to nag Vaan into selling the stupid thing at the first opportunity, that is, if he wasn't carted off to Nalbina tonight. She'd rather see him buy overpriced books all day than get arrested for breaking into the palace.

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Well, what did you think? Leave a review on your way out and let me know if I should add any more to this.


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